#tommy you would love cowboy carter

[morning-star-joy]

during the COWBOY CARTER listening party

LEVII'S JEANS: denim on denim on denim on denim

wife and me in sync: tommy miller

[sempersirens]

DAUGHTER LESSONS | a joel miller oneshot

masterlist

summary: would it kill joel to just touch you?

warnings: established relationship, infidelity, jackson-era, no mention of age, angst

author's note: so... i have been disgustingly obsessed with COWBOY CARTER (duh! i have taste) and have fixated on the duality of daddy lessons and DAUGHTER, which thereby produced this lovechild of the two. you guys know i love me some religious imagery and angst...

Nothing could’ve confined you to a pew in your youth.

Your knees had breathed a sigh of relief at the absence of a blood-red kneeler when you were granted Sunday morning autonomy. Only your grandmother’s morbid prophecies of watching mass from above this time next year herded you between the rows of wooden benches at Easter and Christmas.

Maybe it was her you were trying to reach; chin tipped to the ceiling as if you would be overcome with the smell of potpourri and Irish coffee, heart flooded with all the right answers.

Still, nothing good came. 

“Didn’t expect t’find you in here.” His familiar drawl pricks at the hairs on your neck. 

“I was trying out solitude.” 

Joel had always moved with surprising stealth for someone of his build, but nothing he did these days surprised you anymore.

You had given him everything since meeting shortly after his and Ellie’s arrival in Jackson. It hadn’t taken long for you to witness his undoing. 

But this time, Joel doesn’t move. 

Rather, he stands in the middle of the aisle taking in the sight of you on your knees four rows ahead and to his left. Your hands are clasped so tightly together he can see the whites of your knuckles from this far back. 

Joel knows the back of your head more intimately than he probably should.

You have a habit of turning away from him in bed at night the second you were overcome by the smallest amount of fatigue.

Too damn hot you would mumble from your tenure of the mattress. And he can’t say he minded too much.

Often, he would reach a hand to your hair spilling across the pillow onto his side before regaining sense and propping the hand underneath his head instead.

During your waking hours, languidly reciting the steps of your morning routine around his small kitchen, he feels the want to touch you.

He wants to smooth down the hair that always bobbled around the raised birthmark on your scalp. He wants to feel your cheek against the knuckle of his right index finger. He wants to take the coffee cup from your hands and engulf them in the warmth of his instead. 

“She’s not here.” You mumble, so quietly that he’s not sure if that’s what you’ve actually said.

“Who?” He braves, wiping his sweating palms on the sleeves of his flannel shirt.

You respond with a scoff, confirming his hypothesis. 

Of course she isn’t here. You both know very well that she isn’t here. 

When Tommy had first introduced the two of you, he’d cornered Joel at the bar while ordering their third, or maybe fourth, round of drinks.

“She’s a good woman, Joel.” 

“I’m figuring that out just fine.” He’d smirked, taking a preliminary sip of his beer before glancing back at you. Your elbows were perched on the wooden table, chin resting on your palms as you exchanged low-looks and snickers with Maria sat across from you. 

“No, you don’t get it. She’s good. She’s kind. Her daddy’s the pastor here.”

“Not settin’ me up with a Bible basher are you, little brother? She gon’ make me wait until I give her a ring?” 

He’d felt like an ass as soon as he’d opened his mouth, which was made worse by Tommy’s unchanging expression. He didn’t look irate or tired of Joel’s age-old shit – the face behind his warning was unwaveringly sincere.

“Just don’t hurt her.” 

And in that moment, Joel couldn’t fathom anything as desacrating as hurting you. He had returned Tommy’s solemnity with a nod and carried your drinks back to your table; the remainder of the night blurring into the rest of his life.

He hadn’t fallen in love with you that night. Joel is stubborn in love, and it took months of langorous warmth to thaw his roughness. 

You didn’t make him wait for a ring.

Nights spent in symphony with one another were the only moments Joel could bring himself to touch you. There, he knew how to work his hands, his tongue, his hips. Not once would he hesitate in reaching out to smooth a thumb across your forehead. He moved like a river, flowing into your body in desperation to meet the ocean. 

And you wondered if he did it on purpose, or if he knew that he was doing it at all. Passing him in the intimacy of his home or the vastness of the food hall, you were only ever hungry for his skin against yours. 

Slowly, you crept into his skin through his pores. You made his days sweeter and smoother wherever and however you could, hoping perhaps one evening his fingers would brush yours as you set a plate on the table before him.

But here you rise, swallowed in the rosy light of dawn with damp cheeks and all faith robbed from your chest.

“I can’t do this here, Joel.” You wipe your eyes with the back of your hand and attempt to put as much distance between the two of you as you pass him in the aisle.

“Then don’t. Come home.”

For a second he debates reaching out to you, wrapping you in his arms and letting you beat against his chest as your body racks with sobs. But the moment soon escapes him and he’s following you into the morning air.

“I buried my home a week ago.” You spoke flatly, bones void of any remnants of anger or fight. “You know what my daddy told me before he died?” 

He thinks he does. Moreso, he can hazard a guess. 

Nevertheless, he can’t quite seem to find his voice as you bring yourself to a halt. The morning sun peeks between the buildings behind you.

“Told me one day you’d play me for a fool. And look at me now.” You shook with breathy laughter. “He’s in the ground and there’s another woman keeping the man I love’s bed warm.”

Jackson would soon be rising with the sun. It had almost been a full day since you’d come home from patrol an hour earlier than Joel expected.

In truth, it hadn’t been the clothes strewn over kitchen chairs and draped over the bannisters. Not even the warm smell of salt and latex that hit you before you’d opened the bedroom door.

Joel’s fingers grazed the small of her back, tracing lazy shapes up and down her spine. Your stomach tightened into a small fist, losing all composure you had truly tried to maintain in your ascent up to the bedroom.

You had never even really been one to fight. Your father had taught you to handle yourself, and you’d learnt what was necessary to survive in the new world. 

Really, you wanted to pollute the skin beneath Joel’s touch. You wanted for him to never touch anything beautiful again; to never grasp at cold cotton sheets in the middle of the night; to never feel the slow threat of rain tapping against his skin.

Life began to creep in around the two of you. Ellie and Tommy would soon come looking for Joel to set off on morning patrol.

“One day, Joel, someone is going to give you exactly what you deserve. And I pray to God that I’m there to see it.”

You turn on your heel, leaving Joel to watch as your hair sways from side-to-side down your back. He swallows the lump formed in his throat and tilts his chin to the sky, blinking away the threat of tears moistening his lower lashes. 

He wipes his hands against his jeans and straightens his torso, forcing a low cough to clear his throat. 

Peaches, he thinks. Tonight he will bring you peaches, and he will watch as the juice spills from the side of your mouth. He will reach a thumb to wipe it away, and he will hold you. For as long as you let him; as long as he breathes.

[brokehorrorfan]

Blu-ray Review: Big Trouble in Little China

While cinephiles reflect on John Carpenter's output from the '70s and '80s with great reverence - some might argue that it's an unparalleled run of genre classics - many of his films were considered failures upon initial release due to a lack of commercial success. The Thing is the most well-documented example, but Big Trouble in Little China suffered a similar fate. Produced by 20th Century Fox, the film's domestic gross of $11.1 million only covered about half of its budget, and the critical reception was mixed.

Disillusioned by the Hollywood system, the production influenced Carpenter to return to his independent roots, where he would stay for much of the remainder of his career. But, like many of the master of horror's works, Big Trouble found a cult audience through television and home video. Difficult to classify, the genre-bending adventure combines elements of action (martial arts, no less), comedy, fantasy, horror, western, and even a dash of romance.

The film follows swaggering truck driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russell, The Thing), who finds big trouble while passing through California's Chinatown. He becomes mixed up with Lo Pan (James Hong, Blade Runner), an ancient, evil sorcerer with a legion of warrior followers. Burton has a crew of his own, including his newfound love interest, Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall, Sex and the City); his friend with a vendetta against Lo Pan, Wang Chi (Dennis Dun, Prince of Darkness); and Egg Shen (Victor Wong, 3 Ninjas), who shares his expertise in magic.

Big Trouble in Little China plays out like John Carpenter's answer to Indiana Jones. In lesser hands, it would be little more than a campy B-movie, but Carpenter's unique lens elevates the material without losing the quirkiness. Aside from a plot that's more complicated than it needs to be, this is the closest Carpenter ever came to making a children's movie, complete with an extremely '80s end credit theme song performed by The Coupe De Villes (consisting of Carpenter and filmmaking friends Nick Castle and Tommy Lee Wallace).

The screenplay began as a cowboy western that incorporated Chinese fantasy elements, written by first-timers Gary Goldman (Total Recall) and David Z. Weinstein, before script doctor W.D. Richter (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) adapted it from the Old West to a contemporary setting. When it came time to shoot, Carpenter smartly solicited input from the Asian cast and crew members to ensure well-rounded portrayals rather than stereotypes.

The introduction of Chinese mysticism allows for the inclusion of monsters, which were created by Steve Johnson (Ghostbusters, Species). The special effects guru was initially disappointed to have to make cartoony characters, per Carpenter's request - but, after seeing the final product, he conceded that the filmmaker was right. The creatures are not a far cry from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villains, but there's a charm to them that fits the picture's atypical tone.

Jack Burton is ostensibly the prototypical action hero, as the story is framed around him. Upon closer inspection, however, the character is little more than a bumbling sidekick to Wang Chi, who actually knows what he's doing. Burton serves as the voice of the Western audience, ignorant of the mythology and incredulous to the sorcery. Russell, in his fourth of five collaborations with Carpenter, tackles the charismatic part with aplomb.

Big Trouble in Little China has received a new Collector's Edition Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory. It's available in both standard and limited edition Steelbook packaging with artwork by Laz Marquez and Nathanael Marsh, respectively. In their final collaboration, Carpenter and longtime cinematographer Dean Cundey's (Halloween, Jurassic Park) widescreen visuals shine even more in high definition, utilizing an existing transfer that’s sharp.

The first of two discs features three audio commentaries, two of which are new. The first is more of an extended interview with producer Larry Franco, hosted by special features producer Justin Beahm. Rarely mentioning what's on screen, they discuss Franco's entire career - including his lengthy stint on Carpenter film's from Elvis to They Live - in chronological order. The second new track finds Johnson in conversation with Sharknado filmmaker Anthony C. Ferrante. Thanks to Johnson's unfiltered nature, it's a fascinating and entertaining chat in which he divulges that he funded his early makeup supplies by selling marijuana, beer, and shoplifted goods to friends.

An archival commentary with Carpenter and Russell, recorded circa 2001, is full of laughs between the two friends. They poke fun at the fact that the movies they do together don't catch on until later, while Carpenter acknowledges that the Big Trouble set was reused in Janet Jackson's "When I Think of You" music video. An isolated score track, featuring 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio of the synth soundtrack composed by Carpenter in association with regular collaborator Alan Howarth (They Live, Christine), is also available.

The first disc also includes: a vintage audio interview with Carpenter promoting the film; electronic press kit interviews with Carpenter, Russell, Dun, Cattrall, Hong, and visual effects artist Richard Edlund (Star Wars); deleted and extended scenes, including the extended ending; a gag reel; the Coupe De Villes' music video, which somehow makes the song feel even more overtly '80s; three theatrical trailers, one of which is in Spanish; five TV spots; and three photo galleries: movie stills, posters and lobby cards, and behind-the-scenes pictures.

The second disc contains a whopping twelve new interviews with cast and crew members. Dunn discusses his transition from marketing student to actor on a whim. Hong, equipped with a paper fan that he puts to good use when discussing Big Trouble, calls Lo Pan one of his best roles. Actor Donald Li, noting the stereotypical nature of most Asian roles in Hollywood, says he identified with his happy-go-lucky character of Eddie Lee. Actor Carter Wong discusses how his martial arts training led to a film career and his explosive death scene as Thunder. Actor Peter Kwong, who plays Rain, details the racial prejudices he faced early in his career, driving his aspirations to spread a message of humanity rather than race. Actor Al Leong, who plays the Hatchet Man, is animated in his praise for Carpenter.

Richter details how he turned the original period western script into a contemporary film. Goldman provides additional context to the earlier script, including original scenes that were modernized. Martial arts choreographer James Lew explains how he was drawn to martial arts because he saw Asian representation in Bruce Lee films. Castle - best known for playing Michael Myers in Halloween and co-writing Escape from New York - tells more of his origins and musical background that led to The Coupe De Villes. Wallace - who directed Halloween III and It - calls music his first love as he discusses his lifelong friendship with Carpenter, including their earlier musical collaborations. Legendary poster artist Drew Struzan (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter) shares his fascinating backstory and admits that he posed for his own reference photo for Kurt Russell's body on the poster.

Although they did not participate in new extras, 2013 interviews with Carpenter and Russell offer their recent thoughts on the project. The straight-talking Carpenter is open about his unpleasant experience dealing with the studio, while Russell looks back on his Carpenter collaboration with fondness but reveals that the studio intentionally buried the release. There's also interviews from the same period with Cundey, who briefly touches on his many Carpenter collaborations; Franco, which features a lot of the same information from the commentary; and stuntman/actor Jeff Imada. Extras are rounded out by an archival interview with Endlund, who breaks down several visual effect gags, and a vintage making-of featurette.

Big Trouble in Little China is available now on Blu-ray and Steelbook via Scream Factory.

[beckyalbertalli]

LOVE, SIMON

Hitting theaters on March 16, 2018

(Based on my book, SIMON VS THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA)

SPOILERS BELOW!

Meet the Cast:

Nick Robinson as Simon Spier

“Okay, first of all, Oreos absolutely qualify as a food group.”

How you know him: Olly in Everything, Everything, Ben Parish in The Fifth Wave, Zach in Jurassic World, Joe in The Kings of Summer, and more.

Keiynan Lonsdale as Bram Greenfeld

“...Awkward Silence Bram.” 

How you know him: he’s Wally West/Kid Flash in The Flash, Uriah in the Divergent movies, Ollie in Dance Academy, and more.

Alexandra Shipp as Abby Suso

“Abby isn’t wearing a cowboy hat. She’s wearing a full-on stack of cowboy hats.”

How you know her: Storm from X-Men: Apocalypse, Kim from Straight Outta Compton, Aaliyah from Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, and more.

Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Nick Eisner

“Anyway, I have a policy of not falling for Nick.”

How you know him: Spider-Man: Homecoming, Cisco in The Land, and more. 

Katherine Langford as Leah Burke

“You have to understand that no one has mastered the art of deadpan delivery like Leah.”

How you know her: she’s Hannah in Thirteen Reasons Why!

Logan Miller as Martin Addison

“I’m definitely putting him in my contacts as ‘Monkey’s Asshole.’”

How you know him: Kent in Before I Fall, Sam Alexander/Nova in Ultimate Spider-man, Carter Grant in Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, and more.

Miles Heizer as Cal Price

“I have this feeling in my gut that Blue is Cal Price.”

How you know him: Alex in Thirteen Reasons Why, Drew in Parenthood, Tommy in Nerve, and more.

Jennifer Garner as Emily Spier (aka Simon’s mom!)

“The thing about my mom is she’s a child psychologist. And it shows.”

How you know her: she’s literally Jennifer Garner. 

Josh Duhamel as Jack Spier (aka Simon’s dad)

“My dad has this hilarious idea that he’s a hipster.”

How you know him: Life as We Know It, Transformers, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton and more!

Talitha Bateman as Nora Spier 

“Nora, you are no longer my sister.”

How you know her: She played Teacup in The Fifth Wave!

Tony Hale as Mr. Worth (Creekwood High School assistant principal) 

How you know him: Buster Bluth in Arrested Development, Gary Walsh in Veep, and lots more.

Natasha Rothwell as Ms. Albright

“Ms. Albright is moderately badass for a teacher.”

How you know her: Kelli from Insecure, writer for Insecure & Saturday Night Live, and lots more. 

Mackenzie Lintz as Taylor Metternich

“I guess I’m lucky I have a really fast metabolism.”

How you know her: The Hunger Games, Under the Dome, and more. 

Drew Starkey as Garrett Laughlin

“Semi-douche Garrett”

How you know him.

Clark Moore as Ethan (an openly gay Creekwood student)

How you know him: The Sing-Off, Glee, and more. 

Colton Haynes as Kevin (cute college boy - in the book, he’s named Peter)

“He has extremely white teeth.” 

How you know him: Teen Wolf, Arrow, and lots more. 

Cassady McClincy as Jackie (Simon’s ex-girlfriend)

“And then I never spoke to my girlfriend again.”

How you know her: Good Behavior, Constantine, and more. 

Terayle Hill as Spencer (in-tha-butt bully)

How you know him: The Quad, Being Mary Jane, and more.

Tyler Chase as Aaron (other in-tha-butt bully)

How you know him: Ben on The Walking Dead, Sleepy Hollow, Six, and more.

Bryson Pitts as 10-year-old Simon Spier

How you know him: check out this badass resume! 

Haroon Khan as Suraj (Martin’s best friend)

How you know him: you might not. But you will. OH, YOU WILL.

Margot Wood, Jordan Doww, Riyadh Khalaf, Doug Armstrong, Monica Church, Meghan Hughes, and Sean O’Donnell as the coolest Creekwood students ever (see if you can spot them in the courtyard and the cafeteria)!

How you know them: YouTube, Instagram, and more! 

Jordan Doww: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6911355/, https://www.youtube.com/user/JordanDoww

Riyadh Khalaf: https://www.youtube.com/user/CaptRiyadh

Doug Armstrong: https://www.youtube.com/user/Epiphanized

Monica Church: https://www.youtube.com/user/othermonica

Meghan Hughes: https://www.youtube.com/user/MissMeghanMakeup

Sean O’Donnell: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5761975/

and our very own Margot Wood from http://www.epicreads.com! 

Behind the Scenes:

Director: Greg Berlanti

How you know him: executive producer for ALL THE SHOWS, including Riverdale, Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Everwood, and lots more.

Screenwriters: Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger 

How you know them: co-executive producers and writers for This Is Us, supervising producers and writers for Grandfathered, producers and writers for About A Boy (TV Series), and more and more. 

Producers:

Executive Producer: Timothy Bourne

Producers: Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner , Pouya Shahbazian

Associate Producer: Chris McEwen  

Cinematography by: John Guleserian

 For additional info:

SIMON’s official IMDB page!

Articles:

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/alexandra-shipp-simon-homo-sapiens-movie-1201965492/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/spider-man-homecoming-actor-jorge-lendeborg-jr-joins-ya-movie-simon-homo-sapiens-agenda-966758

http://deadline.com/2017/01/simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-katherine-langford-movie-1201884059/

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/logan-miller-nick-robinson-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-1201956459/

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/nick-robinson-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-1201935299/

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/greg-berlanti-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-1201853423/

http://deadline.com/2015/10/simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-fox-2000-1201597453/

http://deadline.com/2017/02/jennifer-garner-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-movie-becky-albertelli-fox-2000-1201900109/

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/tony-hale-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-1202005032/

http://deadline.com/2017/03/jake-busey-the-predator-natasha-rothwell-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-1202040454/

http://deadline.com/2017/04/miles-heizer-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-deron-horton-shotgun-movie-1202060359/

http://deadline.com/2017/06/anthony-ramos-summertime-keiynan-lonsdale-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda-1202111855/

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: When and where will filming take place? 

A: Filming took place in Atlanta - it wrapped on April 22nd! 

Q: Will Nick Robinson be wearing glasses in this movie? 

A: Nick won’t be wearing glasses for most of the film (it would complicate the lighting in some scenes). However, I promise you, he is pure Simon Spier - and he’ll be wearing glasses in all the flashback scenes!

Q: On the IMDB page, I see names I don’t recognize, like Ethan, Spencer, Aaron, and Claire. Are some of the main characters’ names going to be changed?

A: Nope! Ethan is a new character created by my screenwriters and film team. He’s AMAZING, and I can’t wait for you to meet him. Stay tuned for a few other awesome new characters, like Lyle and Mr. Worth. (I can’t imagine the Simon universe without them now!) Spencer, Aaron, and Claire are Creekwood students. 

Q: Is it true that Alice won’t be in the film?

A: I’m afraid Alice doesn’t appear in the film - Nora is pulling double duty! But you’ll see her again in my 2018 Leah POV sequel.

[redsoapbox]

PAUL LEWIS / INTERVIEWS WITH VAN MORRISON AND SNATCH IT BACK

A gathering of the It's a Wonderful Life Club, that met each Christmas in the Lewis household to watch Frank Capra’s famous festive film - Left to right, Paul Lewis, Rob Jeffreys, Me, Huw MacDonald and Mandy Morris, sitting. Taken around 1990 - I think we are all singing along to our friend Big Al Davies, tragically just out of shot! 

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of my great friend Paul Lewis. We first met, back in 1984, while working in the post room at Companies House in Cardiff - I was reading a biography of Jack Lemmon on my morning tea-break, and Paul wandered over to talk about Cinema. It didn’t take him long to get my measure - if he mentioned a Hollywood classic, whether it be Twelve Angry Men, The Searchers, or Bringing up Baby, then I had a view worth expressing. I was even able to hold my own on the silent movies of Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. However, when Paul threw in Akira Kurasowa, Jean Luc Goddard or Ingmar Bergman my limitations were exposed for all to see. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed with my new colleague and soon to be best friend (we eventually ended up being best man for each other). 

That chat only scratched the surface of Paul’s knowledge - it soon transpired that you could apply the lessons of that first conversation to music, literature, photography, architecture - just name it. As this is primarily a music blog, however, I’ll stick to Paul’s influence in that department. Paul, at the time of his death, had established himself as one of the leading blues journalists in the U.K. -  even appearing as a guest on the legendary Paul Jones’ The Blues Show on Radio 2. I was lucky enough to tag along with Paul and his wife Wendy on many occasions, as he reviewed and interviewed iconic figures like Van Morrison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Cardiff’s very own local heroes Snatch it Back.

So Karen and I will be raising a glass tonight to Paul’s memory and to our continuing friendship with Wendy and the Lewis clan. I’ll be listening to my favourite Snatch It Back tune, “Kind of Loving I Need”, Van the Man’s “Into the Mystic” and, perhaps, something from Nanci’ Griffith’s  Little Love Affairs to remember the good times by.

The interview with Paul and Wendy’s beloved Snatch it Back, (the band played at the couples evening wedding reception - what a gig that was!), is available to read through the British Blues Archive and the UK Blues Federation (www.ukblues.org), and a link to  the interview, which originally featured in issue No.17 of BBR Boogie, can be found at the foot of the page, together with a video of the band in action. As for the copyright of the interview with Van the Man, where Paul’s forensic knowledge of his subject really shines through, I’m winging it - but I think Paul would see the funny side if I received a letter from The Belfast Cowboy’s solicitor threatening to sue me!

Van Morrison in his skiffle/rock ‘n’roll years.

1991 Van Morrison interview

by Paul Lewis

From Now Dig This, December, 1991, pages 22-26

Van Morrison is, without question, one of the giants of the rock era. Having first emerged as a prime mover in the British r&b movement of the early '60s with his Belfast band Them, Morrison has remained remarkably faithful to those roots, developing a musical style at once highly original but also greatly indebted to his early heroes - the blues singers and jazz musicians; the 'voices' of gospel and r&b; the original rock n rollers. His lyrics are peopled by legendary names - Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, Leadbelly etc. - figures that appear almost as characters in an ongoing dialogue; indeed the beginner could amass a terrific record collection simply by checking out the clues that Morrison sprinkles. To get a fuller picture of the man's musical background and primary influences, I met with Van on a recent trip to South Wales. We were joined by a mutual friend, Gordon McIlroy (Wales' leading promoter of blues, r&b and rock n roll gigs), and the conversation was lively, informal and enlightening. What emerged was an engrossing guide to the musical roots of one of our most important performers.

Paul Lewis: Can I start by asking how you got introduced to the blues and rock n roll and all that kind of stuff? I know your father was a great collector of blues and jazz records...

Van Morrison: Yes, well that's really it - I sort of grew up listening to it. You probably heard that before.

PL: And wasn't your mother a singer?

VM: She did some singing, but never professionally. She did some local sorts of shows.

PL: Did she sing jazz?

VM: I don't know exactly what it was. I think it was just the stuff that was happening. I mean the dance band era, that sort of thing...

PL: How did your father get hold of his records? Was there an outlet in Belfast?

VM: Yes, Solly Lipsiz was the guy's name. He had a jazz record shop in the High Street in Belfast - a collectors' shop. It was very small, a very small shop, just shelves of...well, they had 78's then, and they had 10-inch LPs and EPs. Nowadays you can go to these big stores, Virgin or something... In those days you had to go to a specialist shop to get any jazz or blues records.

PL: Was there a lot of interest over there in Belfast then?

VM: No, there wasn't a lot, just small pockets really. There were just small pockets of interest.

PL: So when did it first hit you that there was something you might have liked among your father's records?

VM: Right away! When I could breathe, I think. I just connected with it right away. The first things I heard were Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Clara Ward Singers...

PL: All the gospel people...

VM: Yes. The earliest thing I can remember hearing was gospel, but I heard Leadbelly too, right from the beginning. I don't know the exact sequence, but I heard it all at once. And he was into the big band stuff as well, so I heard Tommy Dorsey and Harry James - because that was his era - so it's all mixed up, you know. But I connected with the gospel and Leadbelly - heavily connected with Leadbelly - and that's how I got into music in the first place.

PL: How old were you when you started playing music yourself?

VM: Well, I got a guitar when I was about 11 or 12. Then I got this Alan Lomax book, and I learned the chords and picked the shapes out of this book. It was called 'The Carter Family Style' - that was what I initially started learning on guitar. And I was trying to pick up also what Leadbelly was doing, but that wasn't in there. If you did The Carter Family, then you could pick up from there, you know.

The Carter Family - Maybelle. A.P and Sarah

PL: You mentioned The Carter Family; did your father have any country records as well?

VM: Oh yes. Well I heard Hank from friends in the street. Friends of mine had the Hank Williams stuff, so I heard that from five or six doors down - they used to leave the doors open. One of my father's friends used to bring all these 78's over, they used to have 'Hank Williams Nights'. Have a few drinks, listen to Hank all night.

Gordon McIlroy: Hank parties! That's unbelievable. Never happened here, you know, never...

VM: That happened in Ireland all the time. It was a big thing.

PL: Ireland's got a strong tradition of country and western though, hasn't it?

VM: Yes, because I think they're very connected you see. The cultures are very connected.

PL: So, guitar was your first instrument - did you play in any bands early on?

VM: No, it was what you'd call 'folk' then. I can remember when I started playing, there weren't any guitars around, apart from on the records by Leadbelly, Josh White, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. You never really heard guitar. You saw it on television - somebody like Ivor Mairants, or you saw people like Elton Hayes. And there were some comedians who played guitar - like I saw Max Wall play guitar once. But it wasn't 'in' then by any means; the guitar was not an instrument then.

PL: When you say 'folk' music, what exactly are you referring to - not 'traditional Irish folk music'?

VM: Yeah. Well when you started, you had to play on your own, because the players weren't available. It was so isolated to have a guitar. You'd see Delia Murphy, who was an Irish folk singer... There'd be Steve Benbow, who played Irish folk music - and English - and all kinds of stuff that you'd see on television. The only local traditional folk group that I heard were The McPeakes. But folk music was not something that was readily available; your entrance into playing guitar was folk music but it wasn't something that was everywhere, not where I was. You couldn't just walk in and hear it, as you walk in and hear rock n roll later on, when the guitar became fashionable and all the teenagers were getting the records. But people like Elton Hayes you'd see on television, so you'd only have that to go on: one person with a guitar, singing a song. Robin Hall, Jimmy McGregor - that's the only thing you'd have to relate to. Either that or the Leadbelly records, or Jimmie Rodgers who I listened to a lot as well. All of a sudden, in the next five years, I think it was - in this part of the world, the UK and Ireland - it was Lonnie Doneganwho brought the guitar *in*. When I started playing they called it a banjo - that's what they called it! So they didn't really register about the guitar until then. I think Donegan was before all the rock n roll stuff...I can't quite remember the sequence.

GM: Donegan made the players, without a doubt. The *players* came from him, I believe.

PL: Had you been following Donegan through the 'trad' period with Colyer and Barber?

VM: Yes. My father had the Ken Colyer records and the Barber records - things like 'Precious Lord', where Donegan was singing in the Barber band. When 'Rock Island Line' came out, it was a Chris Barber record, so my father bought it and that's how I heard it. But what I connected with was that I was hearing Leadbelly before that, so that when Donegan came along, I thought everybody knew about it. So in retrospect now, I realise I was really lucky then - I didn't realise it then, because I thought everybody was hearing the same things I was, but they weren't. So consequently I think I was really lucky to grow up at that time and hear what I heard then, you know.

PL: Had you been trying to tell other people about these records you were listening to, and meeting with resistance?

VM: All the time, all the time. The 'country' people were the most relatable to at that time. My friends who had brothers or uncles or fathers into country music were the most relatable. Hank Williams was *the* most relatable thing, so those people who were into Hank, I connected with them. But they weren't jazz or blues people per se - they were into Hank, so there weren't a lot of people that I came into contact with that were into it. I used to meet people that were much older than me when I went to the collectors' shop, but I didn't really start connecting until the '60s. But the skiffle thing was the bridge really because that sort of crossed over - when I was going from Leadbelly and blues into skiffle, it translated very well. The next thing for me was the early '60s when all these groups started to emerge; then it was like everyone understood it, you know.

PL: Was there a skiffle scene among young musicians in Ireland as well as over here?

VM: Oh yeah, absolutely. That was what was happening then.

GM: I think all the musicians in this country came from skiffle, more than from rock n roll. When they brought rock n roll over here, nobody could play it. Couldn't play it directly...

VM: In that period, in Belfast, the one guy that I've heard of that was playing rock n roll was Brian Rossi. He was playing at The Plaza Ballroom, the Mecca ballroom in Belfast, and he was the first person that I saw that was 'rock n roll'. He had a three-piece because they didn't have the electric bass then - they had two guitars and a drummer. The bass wasn't in then, wasn't happening. People didn't know about it. In rock ‘n’ roll they didn't have electric bass until a couple of years after that, it was very slow to come in. But they had a piano, Rossi was playing piano, two guitar players and a drummer. He was the happening thing in Belfast.

PL: What year would that have been?

VM: Oh, '50s - late '50s. He was from the mid-'50s on, I would say. I wasn't getting into these sorts of venues until the late '50s, you know, because I was too young before that.

PL: How big a part did radio play in your musical education?

VM: It was actually more the records. I mean I heard things on the radio, but it was more the records that my father had. The radio stuff was just additional - you know, the AFN and Luxembourg - but it didn't really play as big a part. The records were the main feature.

PL: What was the first rock n roll record you bought?

VM: The first rock n roll record...it was the only one I could get actually, the only Bill Haley record I could find: 'Razzle Dazzle' (see right). I can't remember the other side...

GM: 'Two Hound Dogs'!

VM: That was it! 'Razzle Dazzle'/'Two Hound Dogs'. That was actually the first 45 I bought when they made the changeover from 78's to 45's.

PL: Did your father approve of the rock n roll stuff as well?

VM: Yes. But the thing is we were so much into jazz that it was sort of part of it, but it was more background, it was just passing by. We were so much into jazz and blues that rock n roll was peripheral. I mean we liked it, but it wasn't in my face all the time, because of the wealth of other stuff, you know. At the time when I got into rock n roll, I was also into jazz saxophone. I started studying tenor with a guy called George Cassidy in Belfast, learning to read music, so when I entered the rock n roll thing, it was coming from that end of it, that angle. So the whole thing wasn't rock n roll, there were other ideas and things I was listening to. People like 'Fathead' Newman, who was playing with Ray Charles - so that was sort of running parallel.

PL: And were you into all those r&b 'honkers' - the Earl Bostics and so on?

VM: I listened to Sil Austin, I had a Sil Austin record...'Pink Shop Shoes' was one of the tracks. I used to listen to him before I went to school, to get me up for school, you know. I heard 'Honky Tonk' too, but I was more into listening to a guy called Jimmy Giuffre than I was to rock n roll. I decided I wanted a sax when I heard Giuffre doing 'The Train And The River'. I couldn't get enough of it after that. If ever there's anyone who was a footnote or asterisk it was him, he's my main influence on saxophone.

PL: I suppose your father would have had his records with Woody Herman, so presumably that would ultimately have come from those?

VM: No, not really - I mean I liked that music, but I didn't connect that strongly with it, not as much as I did with r&b. My father had the first record that Parker played on, 'Dexter's Blues' with Jay McShann, so I heard that, but again I didn't connect so much with that as I did with this other stuff later on. I don't even know what it was called, just some sort of fusion. They didn't call it that then of course - today they'd probably call it fusion. In between Jimmy Giuffre, the Bill Doggett thing with Clifford Scott and The Bill Black Combo would be my area. And then I had these Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan Quartet records that I listened to quite a lot. But when I heard 'Ray Charles Live At Newport', that was it. I started to understand something about the harmony, harmony phrasing, playing together, ensemble - all that kind of stuff. But that's what I was studying - more the jazz end of it than the rock thing at that point. When I joined my first rock n roll band, I was still listening to blues and progressive r&b and jazz. I never saw rock n roll as the whole picture.

PL: Were you playing the sax in a showband?

VM: No, no this was strictly a rock n roll band. It had two guitars, drums and saxophone. We had a piano player but he didn't stay there. He was working in another job, so it was like two guitars, drums and a tenor playing "Peter Gunn" and "Tequila" and all that kind of stuff. Then we actually became a showband because in Ireland you had to have more bodies to work. Because groups weren't really happening there - they were everywhere else with The Shadows etc., etc., but for some reason the promoters didn't want groups (laughs), they hated, you know, 'guitars, bass and drums' groups, they just didn't want to know. You had to have a horn section, you couldn't really work properly if you didn't. All the showbands had horn sections and a lot of them were really good, like The Royal Showband, Dixielanders, Swingtime Aces, Clipper Carlton... The horn sections were the main thing, so you had to have at least a seven or eight-piece band to work.

PL: Is that scene still thriving in Ireland now?

VM: No, no, it's all gone. That went with the ballrooms, they went at the same time. You had these five-hour dances, you see; the band would have to play for five hours for dancers. And people would come from everywhere, out of the woodwork. Some of these gigs were in the middle of a field, you know, in a ballroom. The Royal Showband were huge at the time and they went to Vegas for six months of the year. They'd come back and they were the biggest draw in Ireland.

PL: So presumably you were involved in this scene for quite a while. Were you trying to introduce r&b into it?

VM: Yes. Well, what happened was I was gradually trying to creep r&b in - we had this group situation and we had this piano player who was into Jerry Lee. So he used to come and listen to my Jerry Lee singles, and we'd gradually try to introduce them, and then Ray Charles. Bit by bit it was becoming more of an r&b band. And then we went to Germany where we could virtually play what we wanted. So at that point, it was no longer a showband, they wanted more r&b in Germany. They had showbands there, but they liked r&b, they wanted "What'd I Say" and "Sticks And Stones", you know...

GM: Jerry Lee had been down there at The Star Club. There's an album out of Jerry Lee...

VM: And Ray Charles had already been. So that was when it was beginning to turn around. And then a strange thing happened, just as we started to kick off on the r&b thing - we were playing a club in Heidelberg - I can remember the exact situation. We'd done three or four numbers and then we were announcing the next one when this American G.I. - there were a lot of G.I.'s coming in - he came up to me and said, "You guys ever heard of Dave Clark?". And from that minute, everything changed. All of a sudden it was groups again. So I went back - Calais, Dover and London - and it had all changed from six months previously. Now, the group thing was back and The Beatles were the biggest thing, and The Dave Clark Five. The r&b thing with horns was less predominant, you know, and then of course The Rolling Stones came after that. So, after Germany I went back to Belfast and opened an r&b club at The Maritime Hotel.

PL: So the band in Germany, was that Them at that point?

VM: No, no, completely different band, much better musicians. This is something I'll never understand, you see. The musicians in this band, we'd never got any commercial success, and I started this other situation from complete scratch. You know they actually just went their separate ways and got jobs in different bands and I got a job with Brian Rossi at The Plaza Ballroom in Belfast. I was playing some tenor, playing some harmonica and sang a couple of numbers, so I had a spot with Brian Rossi.

GM: What were the numbers then - rock n roll?

VM: No, it was r&b - that's why he got me. Because he was rock n roll, complete rock. His thing was like Jerry Lee, you know. He was like Jerry Lee, Little Richard...so he had that going. What was I doing? I was doing r&b numbers, like Ray Charles - "Sticks And Stones" or "What'd I Say", or some slow r&b songs, and I was sticking some tenor solos in as well. Then, during this period, there was an ad in the Belfast Telegraph which blew me away when I read it. It said: "Musicians Wanted To Start R&B CLub". I went and met these guys and they were in some other business - I don't know what exactly, but they weren't in the music business. The said, "We want to start this r&b club in Belfast and we're looking for people". There was only me and this other guy there; only two people showed up from the ad. So I went out and found this club, it was a Seamens' Mission; it was called The Maritime Hotel and they had a room set up, that's really where I made it - well, it came out of that situation. I had to just get musicians in at short notice, so the people that I really wanted, I couldn't get. I got another lot of people and we went into this club known as Them, and then it built up from there.

PL: Do you think that you did your best work (with Them) at that club, rather than on record?

VM: Oh...well, it's hard to say. Yeah, in some ways - energy-wise - yes, and as far as stretching the numbers out goes...I think a lot of it was more intense than on record. The records didn't really capture the whole thing because they were limited, you know. Like when you made records in those days, it was all 2:58, wasn't even three minutes, so it never really came across. Live gigs were much more stretched out, you know...

PL: Presumably you still like that club atmosphere?

VM: Oh yes, I think I'm at my best in a club situation, but it's difficult for me now to get that situation. It's not so readily available now.

GM: It's difficult to cope with the people that want to come in, you see. It's too "high-profile" sort of stuff. If you could move in, like, say come in tomorrow, without anyone knowing, it would work.

PL: You were obviously listening to the Chicago blues people - Muddy Waters, guys like that - by this point...

VM: Well, I heard the first Muddy stuff, his folk things, the Library of Congress recordings, I think, on French Vogue. Vogue were issuing records in England - 78's - when I heard Muddy it was from the 78's. You know that "Rollin' Stone" song? "I'm A Rollin' Stone", Muddy Waters? I hadn't heard the electric stuff by then, I heard that later on. But Sonny & Brownie, I heard them electric before I heard Muddy. Sonny & Brownie made an electric album, I heard that before I heard Muddy Waters, so that was like the first electric blues band I heard. I think it was called 'Back Country Blues' or something, but it was with an electric band.

PL: You mentioned that you'd started playing harmonica earlier; who were your influences there?

VM: Oh, Sonny Terry. The first one I connected with was Sonny Terry.

PL: Was that because you'd been buying those records - as a guitarist - to listen to Brownie McGhee and then thought: "Well, I could have a go at harp as well"?

VM: No. As far as guitar goes, I was just sticking with Leadbelly and doing the runs on 6-string - nobody had even heard of a 12-string guitar - and I thought: "Well, where can I get a 12-string?". They used to think I was insane when I was 12 years old and talking about 12-strings. They wanted to put me away. So I was trying to play the Leadbelly runs on a 6-string guitar, the best I knew how - I played more like Lightnin' than like Brownie McGhee, the Lightnin' style. Lightnin' and Leadbelly were the two main influences - and Hooker.

Van Morrison & John Lee Hooker

PL: When did you get into John Lee Hooker?

VM: It was an album on the Audiolab label, Hooker was on the one side, on the other side was Stick McGhee.

PL: Of course he'd played with Sonny Terry as well...

VM: That's right. He was Brownie McGhee's brother or something. But anyway, to get back to Hooker: the Hooker record was like it was done in an echo chamber. The guitar and the vocal were soaked in this echo. I'd never heard anything like that, there was nobody doing that. That's where I got "Baby, Please Don't Go" - from that. I mean, Hooker's name was on it, it said: "'Baby Please Don't Go' (John Lee Hooker)", and it was his arrangement that I started to work on.

PL: So you hadn't heard Big Joe Williams or any of those older versions?

VM: No, but it turns out that he never wrote it either. (To GM) You know the guy who wrote it...

GM: The original was Papa Harvey Hull and Long Cleeve Reid, in the 1920s. Incidentally, a funny thing happened the other week: we had Paul Burlison - Johnny Burnette's guitarist - staying in Cardiff. I think he set a standard for most of the British guys. You know "The Train Kept A-Rollin"? That's possibly where the lick came from for Van's version of "Baby, Please Don't Go".

VM: I think that's where Jimmy Page got the lick from - 'cause Jimmy Page played that lick on my record. But I'm sure he got it from "The Train Kept A-Rollin". I didn't really get this until years later, that it was the same riff, because I'd been listening to that record by Johnny Burnette.

PL: Were you aware of many of the rock guitarists of the time? Cliff Gallup?

VM: Oh yeah! WIth Vincent I was, yeah! For me, that was what the whole rock n roll thing was about. I heard the Johnny Burnette Trio first, then Vincent. I met him later on, about '65. I hung out with him, he was at The Royal Hotel in London and I got to know him a bit. He'd been to Egypt and he'd just got back; he was a really nice guy. For me he *was* rock n roll. I like Burnette, but not as much as Vincent. Whatever rock n roll is, for me it is Vincent.

PL: What about Jerry Lee?

VM: And Jerry Lee. To me, I couldn't say he was rock n roll. Jerry Lee's everything - he's jazz, blues, gospel, rock n roll... Jerry Lee to me means 'everything'. Vincent was to me what rock n roll was about.

PL: You recently did a gig with Jerry Lee. What was he like to work with?

VM: Easy. Dead easy. Very professional.

PL: You seem to me to be drawn to these people who cross over all these genres. I mean, Leadbelly is hard to pigeon-hole, and Jerry Lee as you said...Ray Charles... Would you say that's true - you like people that can straddle jazz and blues and country?

VM: Definitely. I think for me that's a key.

PL: I mean, you do that yourself...

VM: Yeah, I do.

PL: What about Ray Charles? When did you pick up on him?

VM: Oh, I bought three records - one was The Johnny Burnette Trio, another was a Ray Charles EP; it had "Don't Put All Your Dreams In One Basket", "Sittin' On Top Of The World" - it was the one they keep putting out every three years or something. But the first thing I ever bought by him was "What'd I Say". The first time I heard it was on AFN, late at night. It was a live version - it must have been out in America... The one I got was, you know, "Parts 1 and 2", and I was hooked. I was completely hooked after that.

Ray Charles & Van Morrison

PL: How about Elvis?

VM: I heard an Elvis Presley record - on Sun - was it his first record? It had "That's All Right Mama" on it...

GM: The first one we got was "Heartbreak Hotel". "That's All Right" never came across...

VM: I remember hearing one that was a Sun record. Somebody must've got an import. It was acoustic, had no drums on it. Must have been an import then, but I heard that one. But I never connected with that, I connected more with Vincent than I did with Presley.

PL: Did you explore all that stuff later on?

VM: I played it! When I was in a rock n roll band, I played it, jumped across the stage - did the whole thing. I did rock n roll for a couple of years really.

PL: Did you get the rock n roll films, the Alan Freed films, in Belfast?

VM: I saw 'The Girl Can't Help It', I saw that one. Vincent was in that. Little Richard... But I used to see Vincent on 'Oh Boy!'. He was on that fairly regularly, and 'Boy Meets Girls' and all that. Used to watch that every week. I remember seeing Ronnie Hawkins and Gene Vincent on 'Oh Boy!' with Joe Brown.

PL: What about the British rockers?

VM: Oh, Johnny Kidd, man. Johnny Kidd. He was it for me as far as the British end went. I remember he came to Romano's Ballroom in Belfast and he had a three-piece: guitar, bass and drums - and him. That was it, but it was like a big sound.

PL: What year would that have been?

VM: '62.

PL: Was Mick Green with them then?

VM: I think so, yes. But I mean, remember all those three-piece groups that came along much later? They were doing that *then*.

PL: The 'power trio' bit.

VM: Yeah, exactly.

PL: What about English r&b in the early '60s? Did it pre-date you doing it, or was it happening at around the same time?

VM: It was happening at the same time, but we didn't know. For instance, we played The Cafe A-Go-Go in Newcastle...

PL: The Animals' place...

VM: Yeah, but then nobody knew anything. They said there's this band in here called The Alan Price Band or something like that, which apparently became The Animals, but we never heard them. But we played this r&b club in the early '60s. I think there was a lot of crossover...probably Eric Burdon was doing the same kind of thing I was, but we never met each other then. This only came about when we had records out. We'd made a couple of records and The Animals and The Yardbirds and The Rolling Stones had records out, what, in '63 was it? The first British r&b of that type I heard was The Downliners Sect. It was at The Ken Colyer Club, there were doing it then, really doing it. I heard The Pretty Things later, we were on tour with The Pretty Things, but The Downliners Sect were *it*.

PL: What about the slightly earlier ones, like Alexis Korner, Cyril Davies and people like that?

VM: I heard Alexis during the skiffle thing with Ken Colyer, but you had to come to London to hear things like that then. Nowadays you could be in the outer Hebrides and you'd still be able to hear it, but then it was much more isolated. Alexis came and played the club I started about four years after I got it going.

PL: Were you, as a band, slightly out of it then, coming from Belfast? I mean, a lot of these bands evolved out of people that were sleeping on Alexis' living room floor. And they were all intermingled, those London-based bands...

VM: Yeah, probably yeah.

PL: Would that have made it harder for you?

VM: No. We met The Downliners Sect early on, when I was playing in a showband. I came through London and talked to them quite a few times, we went back to see them a few times, and so I started the r&b club I reckon about six months after that.

PL: Did you get many other bands in there outside of your own?

VM: Oh yes, loads of them. Because when it caught on - it took a while to catch on - but when it did, there were suddenly lots of r&b groups around, that came out of the woodwork, that just got into that when they discovered it could be done. Nobody thought it could be done before that. They just though: 'Oh, it's not gonna' work, it's not like a pop record...'. But when it did work, a lot of people that were playing in showbands suddenly wanted to be in rhythm and blues.

PL: I'd like to ask you about some of the people you met that had come across from America in the early '60s, some of the bluesmen that came across...

VM: I met Little Walter. We had a manager who brought us to London to stay at this hotel, called the Aaland Hotel, it was in Bloomsbury. We were sitting there for weeks, you know. We were having a jam session downstairs and all of a sudden these people were wandering through and somebody says 'Little Walter's coming in!'. I thought I must be dreaming, you know. And sure enough, he did, he came in. And I used to go for Chinese food for Little Walter - there was a Chinese restaurant a couple of streets away. I was always saying, "Well, can you show me anything on this harp?". But it was very tough, I mean he was tough, he didn't give anything away. His style was so 'off the wall' - I think he even had a number called "Off The Wall"! - that there's never been anybody since...the things he could do were just incredible. He had a scientific approach to playing the harp. As far as blues goes, he's the top, there is *nowhere* else. The outer limits. There's nobody to touch him. For me he's the outer limits.

PL: How different was he from someone like Sonny Terry?

VM: Well, I'm more like Sonny Boy Williamson, that's my speed. Walter, when he took the instrument to such an extreme, I haven't heard anybody come anywhere near it. But Sonny Boy, for me, I could manage my way around a bit, you know... But Walter was way, way beyond everybody.

PL: Did you meet up with anybody else then?

VM: We backed Jimmy Reed as a group - I backed Walter as well, backed him on guitar - met Jimmy Reed then, and I met Hooker in the same time period. That's really when I became heavily involved with Hooker.

PL: Hooker seems to have inspired you in all sorts of ways - phrasing and everything...

VM: I don't know what it is, but he had some sort of soul. He's got so much soul. When I heard him during that time, he had an acoustic and he came down to breakfast - he was just sitting around with three or four people in a room, and he got out the guitar and he started to play and I haven't heard anything like it since. It was just magic.

PL: I know you're not overly keen on much that's been written about you, but I came across something in 'Rolling Stone' that I'd like your opinion on. It was in a review of Paul Butterfield actually, it said: "Unlike Van Morrison, for instance, Butterfield always conceived of the blues as a tradition, not as a sensibility". Do you agree with that?

VM: Well, not really. I think I see it as both. The thing about it is, if you take Leadbelly or Lightnin' or Hooker, they're not always playing 12-bars. The blues is not always 12-bars, but somehow we've got it in our heads that that's where it is. I mean, some stuff Lightnin' does is not 12-bar - he plays different shapes. He's got records where he plays folk shapes. There's lots of different angles, but blues is a way of life. And it doesn't have anything to do with this thing about colour. When I was a kid, I used to think it was about 'black people' and this and that, but Hooker says "Blues is the truth", that's how he puts it. And I believe that. So whatever the truth is for you, that's what the blues is.

PL: You've always been quick to credit your influences in your own songs...

VM: A lot of that is tongue-in-cheek - you mean on the last album?

PL: Yes, well there's a couple on the last album: "Real Real Gone" and "Days Before Rock n Roll", but also going back to "Cleaning Windows" and so on.

VM: The last one ("Days Before...") was tongue-in-cheek, but "Cleaning Windows", that was reality. That was when I was listening to Blind Lemon, Leadbelly and Jimmie Rodgers.

PL: Do you see yourself in the role of some sort of educator?

VM: I think I could do that, it's a possibility. If I had a platform, I could get into that, it's a possibility.

PL: Do you ever think of doing an album purely in one of those styles? I know you did the folk album with The Chieftains, but a pure blues one or a pure rockabilly one...

VM: Oh, many times. Well there's stuff, actually unreleased material that is in that vein. Over the years you record things and there's only, like, 40 minutes on an album, so there's a lot of stuff gets 'canned'. This stuff exists, but it's long-winded going through all this material, finding out where the tapes are and getting it out.

PL: What was it like having Hooker record one of *your* songs? That's a rare occurrence!

VM: That was really strange, because Hooker recorded a version of "T.B. Sheets" and didn't give me any credit! At first I was really pissed off... Then I realized it was John Lee Hooker doing a *version* of it. He's doing an adaptation of it, it's not exactly the same. But I think if it had been anybody else, I would have done the legal trip. But seeing it was Hooker, I just don't see I could. I mean, it was a compliment, wasn't it, really, to do it - he would come to my gigs and say, "I dig this number 'T.B. Sheets', man. I wanna' do this number." You know, it's a compliment really.

PL: Were you involved in the 'Healer' project at all?

VM: He wanted me at the beginning to start on it, but they couldn't find me, they didn't know where I was physically, and they were trying to get in touch with me. By the time it got off the ground, Carlos (Santana) had got involved in it, and it became too far gone for me to get involved, but I became involved in the next one. I did two numbers for the next record: "Serves Me Right To Suffer" and "I Cover The Waterfront".

PL: You worked with Mose Allison...

VM: Yeah, I did a thing with him, two years ago, I think, in Bristol. A TV programme...

PL: Oh yes, but what I was thinking of was the concert that came out on video - that was from America though, wasn't it?

VM: Oh yes. Actually, the one in Bristol was better; there were more songs, it was stretched out a lot longer. The one I did in America was very rushed; the Bristol thing was shot over two days. There was much more chance to get into it, and he was playing some of my songs, which was good. But Mose has worked with me a lot, I mean been on shows with me for a long, long time, going back about 12 years. He's been on a lot of my shows in America. I saw him quite a lot when I lived over there. Sometimes I'd go see four sets in a row, you know. It's a completely different style, his music, from mine, but I really like it - I like his songs and I like what he stands for, what he's saying. He's a friend of mine; I've hung out with him, talked to him quite a bit, got a dialogue going - it's good.

PL: Of course you were playing with Georgie Fame around the same time, and he's obviously very influenced by him as well...

VM: Yes, I think Georgie's probably more influenced by Mose than I am. I don't really put Mose under 'influences', I put him under 'inspiration'. But Georgie's been into him for a long time as well. Georgie's a friend of his, too.

PL: How did you link up with Georgie? I imagine your paths must have crossed back when you were in Them and he was playing at The Flamingo?

VM: Well, our paths crossed, but we didn't actually connect up. We had the same agents when I was in a group called The Monarchs and he was playing at The Flamingo. So we had a lot of people in common, but we never actually connected with each other.

PL: Do you see much of the contemporary blues scene?

VM: No, it's like I have difficulty when the translation gets lost. I mean if you're brought up on Shakespeare, then it's difficult to read other things that aren't up to the same level. When you hear these people when you're very young - and it goes in all the way, it penetrates all the way and you absorb all that - the other stuff just seems feeble. I'm not putting it down, it just doesn't register. I always have to go back to Sonny Boy, Walter, Muddy Waters - I have to go back to these people because with the new stuff, there's something that's not there, there's something missing. I think it's got to do with people living it, and it was the consequence of this life and the way they really felt spiritually as well. And it's got watered down through the years. I mean it's good that people are still playing it, but there are very few things that I can say come anywhere near it. You know, I think the blues has become something else, it's become another vehicle. I think it's a good musical vehicle, but I don't think it's what it started out as it's become chipped away. It doesn't really have the depth of the original stuff is what I'm trying to say. There are very few people now that are penetrating the depth of it. For me, Butterfield was the last person that penetrated the depth of it. I haven't come across many people since then that actually were living the thing to that extent, anywhere near that.

Issue no 17 of BBR Boogie can be read here http://www.britishbluesarchive.org.uk/Docs/Blues_Review/Blues_Review-May91.pdf

Snatch it Back live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkKc88k_ZDQ

If you trawl the blog archives, you will find some of my own Van Morrison reviews.

[brandonewing1985-blog]

The Final IV - Bound for Glory

Welcome to the first edition of “The Final IV”. This will be a weekly series where we break down the Top 4 events, matches, wrestlers, promotions, and anything else in between, in relation to the crazy world of professional wrestling. This is intended to be a series written to be short, sweet and to the point on each topic. So, without any further ado, let’s get started!

This week we will cover the Top IV “Bound for Glory” pay-per-view events over the history of Impact Wrestling (formerly TNA). This Sunday night, on October 14th, 2018 will mark the 14th annual Bound for Glory pay-per-view extravaganza featuring the main event pitting Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion, Austin Aries defending his title against Johnny IMPACT. Therefore, in honor of Impact Wrestling’s premiere wrestling event, it is now time to list the Top IV Bound for Glory pay-per-view events.

#4 – Bound for Glory (2010)

Bound for Glory (2010) was the sixth annual Bound for Glory to take place in TNA/Impact Wrestling’s history. Bound for Glory (2010) took place at the Ocean Center in Dayton Beach, Florida on October 10th, 2010. The show drew in 3,500 fans. The big storyline for the show was culminated around the date of the event: “10-10-10”. The date we would hear repeated at nauseum by “The Monster” Abyss for weeks and weeks leading into Bound for Glory. Abyss claimed on this night, “They” would reveal themselves to the wrestling world and that everything would change in TNA forever.

Outside of the big storyline, the matches at Bound for Glory (2010) weren’t too memorable, outside of the main three that were heavily promoted. We saw Jeff Jarrett “walk out” on his tag team partner, Samoa Joe, during their 3-on-2 Handicap Match against Sting, Kevin Nash and D’Angelo Dinero. This would tie in for what was to come later on in the evening. We also saw a brutal “Lethal Lockdown” match featuring EV 2.0 (Raven, Rhino, Sabu, Stevie Richards and Tommy Dreamer) versus Fortune (AJ Styles, “Cowboy” James Storm, Kazarian, Matt Morgan and Bobby Roode), as we saw the former “ECW Originals” get the big victory over Fortune, who were arguably the best young wrestling stars TNA/Impact Wrestling had to offer, collectively.

Then we get to our main event featuring Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. As per stipulation, if Kurt Angle loses the match he would be forced to retire from professional wrestling. The big reveal for “10-10-10” came to fruition, as Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan made their respective heel turns. While the Hogan and Bischoff heel turn could be seen as predictable, the heel turn of fan favorite Jeff Hardy was the talk of the evening. Bischoff and Hogan gave one of Hogan’s crutches to “The Enigma” Jeff Hardy to use as a weapon to assist him in his title victory. Jeff Hardy would smash the crutch over the back of Kurt Angle, then drop Mr. Anderson with the Twist of Fate to get the pin fall and the victory. Hardy celebrated his win with Bischoff and Hogan, laughing in the face of the audience, as TNA President Dixie Carter looked on in total disbelief at ringside. Then, we saw the rest of “They” come out to celebrate the big reveal and victory, as Abyss and Jeff Jarrett came down to embrace the trio. Rob Van Dam came out to get some answers from his “friend”, Jeff Hardy, only to be taken down with a shot to the head with the TNA World Heavyweight Title by Jeff Hardy. This would lead into the group forming “Immortal” the following week on TNA Impact. A storyline that would dominate TNA programming until the following year.

With that being said, let’s get to #3 on our countdown,

#3 – Bound for Glory(2011)

Bound for Glory (2011) took place at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA on October 16th, 2011. The event drew in 3,585 wrestling fans. This was the seventh Bound for Glory event in the company’s history. This was a very big show that featured a lot of memorable moments and matchups that took place. This was a fun crowd, as one could expect from a wild and rowdy Philadelphia wrestling audience.

We saw another chapter written in the historic rivalry dating back to the days of ECW, between Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn. RVD and Jerry Lynn wrestled in a “Full Metal Mayhem” match, with “The Whole F’N’ Show!” getting the victory over Jerry Lynn. The storyline was surrounded by their history of Jerry Lynn being “sick and tired” of living in RVD’s shadow, in spite of supporting RVD throughout the past several months in TNA. They had a score to settle and it had to be settled in Philly.

Velvet Sky captured her first TNA Knockouts Championship in a victory over Madison Rayne, Mickie James and Winter in a Fatal Four Way Match. This wasn’t the best match on the card but was a pivotal moment in the career of Velvet Sky. This title victory would be her first Knockouts Championship title reign and be one of the biggest moments of her TNA career.

AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels rekindled their feud heading into Bound for Glory, as they would wrestle in an “I Quit” match. Definitely not the best match these two men ever had but was a respectfully decent match. Fortune were broken up, with Daniels turning heel on AJ Styles to reignite the feud and setup the match.

Next, we would have one of the biggest moments in the entire pay-per-view. We had a No Holds Barred showdown between Hulk Hogan and Sting. By no means, this was going to be a wrestling classic, much less considered a “great match”, by any stretch of the imagination given that both men were past their prime. However, they were able to tell a good story leading into this event. Sting is fighting to back control of TNA Wrestling from Hulk Hogan and Immortal, surrounding the events that took place over a year ago at Bound for Glory (2010). Sting wanted to see the old Hulk Hogan back, and not this façade that he had been portraying since he and Bischoff took control of TNA. The stipulations were that If Hogan won, Sting would be forced to leave TNA forever. If Sting got the win, Dixie Carter would regain control over the company.  Sting would get the victory over “The Hulkster” by submission with the Scorpion Deathlock in a bloody brawl. Afterwards, members of Immortal, including Eric Bischoff, would get involved to attack Sting. Sting pleaded and begged for help from Hogan. At that moment, Hogan had an epiphany of sorts, as he snapped, tore his bloody “Impact Wrestling” t-shirt off and turned on his Immortal brethren, including a disgusted Eric Bischoff. Sting and Hogan would embrace, signifying Hogan’s face turn as Dixie Carter wept and cheered on with joy from ringside.

The main event featured TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Kurt Angle defending his title against Bobby Roode. This was a good main event, that showcased the skills and talent Bobby Roode had to offer in TNA. Angle would be victorious on this night, as he would defeat Bobby Roode to retain the title.

This was a disappointing finish to many wrestling fans who were ready to see Bobby Roode become the next TNA World Heavyweight Champion and become the new face of the company. In spite of this, the fans would not have to wait much longer, as Roode would later on capture the title from “Cowboy” James Storm, who would defeat Kurt Angle for the title just a couple weeks after this event. Roode would turn heel and smash a beer bottle over the head of Storm to become the next champion and set up his reign as the “It Factor” of professional wrestling, becoming the longest reigning TNA World Heavyweight Champion in company history.

#2 – Bound for Glory (2007)

Bound for Glory (2007) took place on October 14th, 2007 at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia. The event drew in 4,000 wrestling fans. This would be the third Bound for Glory event in TNA’s history. This event would be a pivotal turning point for the company and featured a stellar card from top to bottom.

Some of the big match highlights included a “Tag Team Ultimate X Match” between L.A.X. (Homicide and Hernandez) versus Triple X (Senshi and “Primetime” Elix Skipper). This was a great match to kick the show off, as both teams took advantage of the Ultimate X elements and did a lot of very good high spots. The Latin American Xchange would defeat Triple X and go on to become the #1 Contenders for the TNA Tag Team Titles.

AJ Styles and Tyson Tomko became the new TNA Tag Team Champions by defeating Ron “The Truth” Killings and Consequences Creed (Xavier Woods), with NFL star Adam “Pacman” Jones in their corner. We also saw a battle for the ages, as the Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner) defeated Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) in a “Two-out-of-Three Falls Tables Match”. We also saw the traditional “Monster’s Ball” match, featuring “The Monster” Abyss defeating Raven, Rhino and Black Reign (Goldust).

Our highlighted matches were Samoa Joe defeating Christian Cage in a grudge match via submission, with Matt Morgan as the special ringside enforcer in what arguably could be considered “Match of the Night”, alongside the main event that was to come later.

The biggest moment in terms of the history of Bound for Glory and TNA came to fruition, as Gail Kim became the first ever TNA Knockouts Champion, winning a special “Gauntlet for the Gold” match by last eliminating Roxxi Laveaux. Other participants included were: Traci Brooks, Jackie Moore (Jacqueline), Shelly Martinez, Awesome Kong, O.D.B. Angel Williams (Angelina Love), Christy Hemme, and Talia Madison (Velvet Sky). This would be the pinnacle and defining moment in Gail Kim’s illustrious career, as she would later retire and become a TNA Hall of Famer in 2017.

Our main event featured a wrestling classic between two legends and TNA Hall of Famers. Sting and Kurt Angle, for the World Heavyweight Championship. This match had everything. Excitement.  Drama. Wrestling. Brawling. Color (Blood). You name it. This would be one of Sting’s best matches of his TNA career, as the same could be said for Kurt Angle as well. Sting would defeat Kurt Angle to capture the TNA World Heavyweight Championship to cap off a special night in the history of TNA. TNA Bound for Glory (2007) would be one top events of 2007 and remains as one of TNA’s top pay-per-views of all time.

So, what could be better than Bound for Glory (2007) you may ask? Well let’s get to #1 and find out!

#1 – Bound for Glory (2005)

The very first annual Bound for Glory (2005) took place on October 23rd, 2005 from the “Impact Zone” in Orlando, Fla. This show was the pinnacle of TNA Wrestling for its time. This was a stellar card from top to bottom. You had Samoa Joe (coming off his run in Ring of Honor) facing the legendary Jushin “Thunder” Liger. An “Ultimate X Match” with Petey Williams, Chris Sabin and Matt Bentley. America’s Most Wanted (AMW) vs The Naturals for the NWA Tag Team Titles. Not to be mention an incredible 30-Minute Iron Man Match between AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. Let’s not forget about Rhino, who wrestled not one, not two but three matches and became the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion all in one night following a change in the main event between Kevin Nash and Jeff Jarrett, when Nash was hospitalized and unable to compete. Rhino competed against Abyss in a “Monster’s Ball Match”. Then won a special 10-man “Gauntlet for the Gold” to determine a replacement for Kevin Nash, then immediately wrestled Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and won the title. The show received mixed reviews from wrestling critics, but I felt this show at the end of the day delivered and made the best of a bad situation when word got out that Kevin Nash was unable to compete at their biggest show of the year. This was the highlight of Rhino’s TNA career and showed the world that he was still a credible star in the wrestling industry, beyond his tenure in the original ECW.

This was a very tough decision to decide between this and Bound for Glory (2007) as the #1 choice. I know fans will have their opinions and think differently, which is perfectly okay and acceptable, as we all have our fair share of opinions. To sum it my choice for #1, I believe the inaugural Bound for Glory (2005) set the tone for the many great shows we would see over the years, including Bound for Glory (2007) and so on, so forth.

Having said that, wrestling fans, what would be your choice for the greatest Bound for Glory pay-per-view in TNA/Impact Wrestling company history? Let me know on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at the following links below. Until then, I will see you next time!

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